International Criminal Court

News about International Criminal Court, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 17, 2015

International Criminal Court judges request that chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda review her decision not to investigate deadly Israeli commando raid on Gaza-bound flotilla of aid ships in 2010. MORE

Jun. 25, 2015

Palestinians plan to submit evidence of Israeli war crimes occurring during July 2014 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas to International Criminal Court; analysts say while move shows Palestinians' commitment to standing up to Israel in international court, action may be symbolic since court has has no capacity to enforce judgments and is unable to secure arrest of those they are able to convict of war crimes. MORE

Jun. 16, 2015

South African authorities allow Sudanese Pres Omar Hassan al-Bashir to fly home after African Union meeting despite longstanding arrest warrant in International Criminal Court for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide; plane departs before South Africa's High Court rules that government is legally required to arrest him. MORE

Jun. 16, 2015

News Analysis; South Africa's refusal to arrest Sudanese Pres Omar Hassan al-Bashir on International Criminal Court warrant points out limitations of justice system that has no enforcement capability; move also illustrates ways in which member states use court to advance political interests. MORE

Jun. 15, 2015

Pres Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, finds himself unable to leave South Africa following order from nation's High Court; ICC calls on South Africa to arrest Bashir, who has been extremely cautious in his travels since indictment was handed down in 2009; whether or not South Africa proceeds with arrest could determine long-term influence of ICC. MORE

Apr. 2, 2015

Palestinians join the International Criminal Court, making most significant and controversial step yet toward seeking statehood; Palestinian Authority hopes to use membership to increase international pressure on Israel and to hold it accountable for policies and actions that Palestinians charge are war crimes; stops short, however, of calling for immediate investigation of Israeli officials. MORE

Mar. 10, 2015

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for International Criminal Court, asks United Nations Security Council to enforce extradition of Sudanese Pres Omar Hassan al-Bashir; had previously said she was suspending criminal investigations of Darfur atrocities due to lack of cooperation from Sudan. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Lord's Resistance Army rebel commander Dominic Ongwen makes first public appearance at International Criminal Court; Ongwen has been accused of murder and enslavement. MORE

Jan. 21, 2015

Israel's state comptroller says investigation is underway into moves by military and political leaders during 50-day war with Hamas in Gaza in 2014; statement is country's latest attempt to stop International Criminal Court inquiry into its conduct. MORE

Jan. 19, 2015

North Korean defector Shin Dong-hyuk, whose disturbing accounts of life in prison camp were depicted in 2012 book Escape from Camp 14, confesses that some parts of his story were fabricated; admission could jeopardize effort to bring North before International Criminal Court. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

International Criminal Court opens preliminary investigation into possible war crimes committed in Palestinian territories, which could lead to charges against Israel; move comes two weeks after Palestinians signed treaty to accept jurisdiction of the court; Israel condemns action and says it will not cooperate with inquiry. MORE

Jan. 14, 2015

Dominic Ongwen, captured Ugandan rebel commander in Lord's Resistance Army, will be turned over to International Criminal Court at the Hague; he is accused of helping to plan massacres and kidnap children; army leader Joseph Kony is at large. MORE

Jan. 13, 2015

Pres Obama, in telephone call to Israeli Prime Min Benjamin Netanyahu, confirms that United States will register opposition to Palestinian Authority's attempt to join International Criminal Court. MORE

Jan. 11, 2015

News Analysis; Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for International Criminal Court, will face numerous challenges in 2015 that may prove to be opportunities to show that court is still relevant; chief among challenges is request by Palestinians to investigate alleged crimes perpetrated by Israel in latest Gaza conflict. MORE

Jan. 10, 2015

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court, may start preliminary examination into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on Palestinian lands by Israel. MORE

Jan. 6, 2015

News Analysis; Palestinians have begun to translate a series of symbolic steps into de facto progress towards establishing a legal state, without having to make long-avoided concessions to Israel; are placing bet that actions, including move to join International Criminal Court, will eventually force changes on the ground; strategy has upset Washington, and has caused Israel to promise painful retaliatory measures. MORE

Jan. 5, 2015

Op-Ed article by policy expert Dennis B Ross argues the Palestinian Authority's application to the International Criminal Court is only the latest example of its preference for political symbols over true negotiation with Israel that would require concessions; calls on European leaders who support Palestinian statehood to stop giving Authority a free pass, and to put greater pressure on it to seriously consider difficult compromise. MORE

Jan. 4, 2015

Israel withholds tax revenue from Palestinian Authority in response to Palestinian attempts to join International Criminal Court, further escalating tensions between two sides. MORE

Jan. 3, 2015

Riyad H Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to United Nations, submits papers for Palestinians to join treaty creating the International Criminal Court, paving way for the tribunal to potentially investigate serious crimes on Palestinian lands committed by either side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. MORE

Jan. 2, 2015

Legal experts say even if Palestinians are successful in bid to join International Criminal Court, exacting legal repercussions for Israeli actions during war in Gaza are unlikely because court may not recognize actions as falling under its purview; bid to join court, however, is likely to result in profound repercussions for Palestinians, from both Israel and United States. MORE

Jan. 1, 2015

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas requests that Authority join International Criminal Court, move that opens up possibility of war-crimes prosecutions of Israeli officials; request, condemned by American officials as excessive, follows failure of United Nations Security Council resolution demanding end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory by 2017. MORE

Jan. 1, 2015

Editorial criticizes Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas for political actions that may further dim any hopes of a two-state solution; contends Abbas's decisions to both force a losing vote on Palestinian statehood at United Nations Security Council and then to join International Criminal Court give Israeli hard-liners even more reason to reject new peace talks and could possibly push collapse of the authority itself. MORE

Dec. 26, 2014

United Nations announces plans to further cut down on number of peacekeeping forces in Darfur, Sudan, despite renewed violence that has driven 457,000 people from their homes in 2014 alone; statement comes in wake of International Criminal Court's suspension of genocide case against Sudan Pres Omar Hassan al-Bashir; two announcements show how international attention to crisis in Darfur has been overshadowed by other, newer crises elsewhere. MORE

Dec. 16, 2014

United Nations Security Council agrees to consider human rights situation in North Korea; decision paves way for discussions on whether to refer country to International Criminal Court. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is suspending investigations in Darfur; cites limited resources, fact that no arrests have been made in decade and absence of help from United nations Security Council in decision. MORE

Dec. 12, 2014

Ivory Coast is ordered by International Criminal Court to turn over Simone Gbagbo, country's former first lady, to face accusations of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and persecution. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

International Criminal Court judges rule that Libya has failed to comply with court orders relating to Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, son of former Libyan dictator, and refers matter to the United Nations Security Council; court says Libya must hand over Qaddafi for trial in The Hague. MORE

Dec. 11, 2014

Legal analysts say that Americans who order or carry out torture can be prosecuted abroad, by legal bodies including International Criminal Court; experts question whether such prosecutions will happen, but predict that calls for punishment will grow as long as United States declines to prosecute it own citizens. MORE

Dec. 9, 2014

Palestinians become observer for first time at annual meeting of states that have joined International Criminal Court, upgrading their status within the organization. MORE

Dec. 6, 2014

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court, withdraws charges against Kenya's Pres Uhuru Kenyatta of crimes against humanity; Kenyatta, first sitting president to appear before court, was accused of helping to orchestrate and finance a wave of ethnic violence after disputed elections in 2007, charges he has always denied. MORE

Nov. 23, 2014

Editorial calls on United Nations Security Council to pass resolution to refer case against North Korea to International Criminal Court for prosecution of its leaders for crimes against humanity. MORE

Nov. 7, 2014

International Criminal Court in The Hague contends that Israeli military forces may have committed war crimes when they stormed a flotilla of civilian ships delivering aid to the Gaza Strip in 2010. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague proposes temporary release for Vojislav Seselj, Serbian nationalist leader whose health has seriously deteriorated while awaiting end of his long-running trial; Seselj is charged with inciting others to commit war crimes in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990s. MORE

Oct. 26, 2014

Broad coalition of countries is pushing for the first time to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of crimes against humanity; move is breakthrough for human rights advocates who have long urged world powers to scrutinize reported rights abuses in North Korea, and not just focus on its nuclear arms. MORE

Oct. 21, 2014

Jang Il-hun, North Korea's United Nations envoy, warns his country will take unspecified countermeasures if any efforts is made to charge Kim Jong-un with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court; statement comes in reaction to United Nations report. MORE

Oct. 9, 2014

Kenya’s Pres Uhuru Kenyatta makes reluctant appearance before three international judges who must decide whether case against him on charges of crimes against humanity should proceed at International Criminal Court or be withdrawn for lack of evidence. MORE

Oct. 8, 2014

War crimes trial of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic ends following four years of hearings and testimony; prosecutors call for the conviction and life imprisonment of Karadzic on 11 charges, including genocide, stemming from the 1992-95 war; Karadzic proclaims his innocence. MORE

Oct. 7, 2014

Kenyan Pres Uhuru Kenyatta says he will briefly step down as president while he attends hearing at International Criminal Court at The Hague; Kenyatta is accused of committing crimes against humanity by instigating ethnic violence after Kenya's 2007 presidential election. MORE

Sep. 30, 2014

Prosecutors demand life sentence for former Bosnian leader Radovan Karadzic as his trial for war crimes draws to close. MORE

Sep. 25, 2014

International Criminal Court is opening investigation into atrocities during sectarian fighting since 2012 in the Central African Republic. MORE

Sep. 13, 2014

Several Mexican human rights groups say that they have filed complaint with the International Criminal Court, asking it to investigate widespread abuse of thousands of civilians by army and police in their fight against organized crime. MORE

Sep. 6, 2014

International Criminal Court prosecutors in The Hague ask for another delay in starting trial of Kenyan Pres Uhuru Kenyatta, since the Kenyan government has so far refused to hand over most of information they have requested. MORE

Sep. 3, 2014

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, says Palestinian Pres Mahmoud Abbas has decided to shelve already moribund American-sponsored peace talks and join International Criminal Court; Abbas intends to seek Security Council resolution that would demand end to Israeli occupation within three years. MORE

Jun. 13, 2014

International Criminal Court orders former Ivory Coast Pres Laurent Gbagbo to stand trial; Gbagbo's refusal to accept electoral defeat in 2010 set off brief but bloody civil war. MORE

Jun. 6, 2014

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, pledges to step up court's investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes, including sexual slavery and forced prostitution, as crimes against humanity and war crimes; lengthy policy paper issued by Bensouda is her strongest effort to date to exhort both the court and national governments to pay more attention to such crimes. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Memo from the Hague; critics say United States' full-throated endorsement of International Criminal Court while court was weighing measure regarding Syrian civil war masked Obama administration's at times undermining approach to court; US is seen as supporting body only when it suits administration's foreign policy agenda, as when it seized on failure of Syria resolution to criticize Russia. MORE

May. 24, 2014

International Criminal Court in The Hague sentences Congolese military leader Germain Katanga to 12 years in prison for his role in attack on village of Bogoro in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003; more than 200 civilians were shot or hacked to death in the tribal massacre. MORE

May. 23, 2014

China and Russia vote against United Nations Security Council resolution that would have empowered International Criminal Court to go after perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Syria; those who demand accountability for war criminals in country will have to prepare other options. MORE

May. 22, 2014

United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote on resolution asking International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Syria. MORE

May. 14, 2014

International Criminal Court reopens preliminary war crimes investigation into accusations that British officials were responsible for the systematic abuse of Iraqi prisoners by Britain’s military from 2003 to 2008; similar investigation was closed in 2006, but prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had vowed to reopen case if new information, received in January 2014, warranted it. MORE

{"type":"article","show_header_text":false,"header":"ARTICLES ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT","query":"(org = \"INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT\" OR org =\"COALITION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT\")","search_query":"(organizations:\"INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT\" OR organizations:\"COALITION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT\")","num_search_articles":"6","show_summary":true,"show_byline":true,"show_pub_date":true,"hide_thumbnails":false,"show_kicker":false,"show_title":false,"show_related_topics":true,"show_rad_links":true,"show_subtopics":true,"exclude_topics":"INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT","more_on_header":"MORE ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND:","alternate_index_subidx":"","show_thumbnails":true}